There’s plenty of comparisons made between custom bicycles and hand-crafted liquors such as wines and whiskeys. The Kinfolk Bicycle Company recently received an alternative assignment: to create a complete bicycle inspired by Beam Inc’s Ronrico Rum.
The craftsmanship is without flaw, as with all frames assembled by Kinfolk’s master builder, Kusaka-san. The contrasting paintwork references the colors found on the bottle of Ronrico Rum, neatly emphasizing the head tube lugs, crowned by the Kinfolk badge.
Matsuri, the owner of the Ronrico Rum bike, is a magazine editor in Japan whose local watering hole serves up the 151 rum. “For the uninitiated,” Kinfolk’s John Buellens informed me, “that’s over-proof, 75% alcohol. Flame thrower gas”.
The Kinfolk Ronrico Rum bike is reminiscent of the board track racers of the 1920s, formed by the use of vintage Nitto stem and bars, H PLUS SON Archetype rims, gum wall tires and Dia-Compe’s Gran Compe brake set. See more details on the Kinfolk flickr stream.
